1 Kings 19:1-4, (5-7), 8-15a
Proper 7 (12) - Year C
We do feel alone. We are without our servants, our identifiers. We are no better than our ancestors.
At the end, though, we can still set out from where we are. We can still anoint the next generation -- blessed be they.
Descendants and inheritors will be blessed by the old wine of their day which is still too new in our day.
So we are fortified to set out again; to set out from where we are. Blessed be the journey, even the journey of running away from any Jezebel and finding only the hope of the next generation.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2004/june2004.html
"As the wine is found in the cluster", so is peace present in our current situation.
When ready to lie down and give it up, we awake to pancakes and coffee. Having gathered our strength for yet another forty days of questing we go on to find a sheer silence in the cacophony of our current situation.
Potential abounds, but it takes imagination and diligence to work at it. If G*D is ready to be found by those who do not seek and continues to invest in being present, so we are ready to find those invisible to us and reenter the fray of life.
[Note: The 1 Kings passage needs to go on to verse 18 where we hear of 70x100 more compatriots we are in solidarity with to change the world (current situation).]
- - -
do not destroy
there is blessing
in the midst
of subsets
of creationfrom a little grape
dandelions and honey
intoxicating spirits
warm and energize
new creationfrom a little Jacob
Leah and Rachel
inheritors of mountains
trick and treat
old creationfrom a little you
G*Ds and Neighbors
cave dwellers
quiet and charge
any reality
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html
Just two chapters ago (17:2-4) G*D's presence led Elijah forth to Wadi Cherith, there to be fed by ravens, and mere verses later to be fed for a long time by a widow who only had a handful of flour left (miracle upon miracle). Now Elijah runs away on his own, only to be fed by angels. This raises questions in our own life about how long ago we experienced being fed and what our expectation is about a next feeding. (This question is real for all aspects of our self - body, mind, spirit, relationships. . . .]
It is so easy to forget the blessings that have brought us to a testing moment. So it is that Elijah despairs so much that he could only sleep his life away and couldn't eat. Again Elijah is sustained, this time by angels (just ravens with another spelling?)
It is so easy to exaggerate one's troubles of the moment and to lose perspective. Sometimes it takes quite awhile (40 days plus) and quite a distance (as much as 600 to 1,000 walking miles, depending on terrain) to regather perspective.
Finally comes a bottom-line question: "What are you doing where you are?"
When we hear our poor excuse of a response, a click of recognition can comes -- "I am not alone. I have a life to live and a task to accomplish." Simple statements; both. And so we go forth to lay the groundwork for a next generation. Whether they are able to prepare for the next after them, is beside the point. Our call is ours.
We have gotten ourselves and one another in another fine mess (think Laurel and Hardy). There may be nothing more to do than to find one other to mentor to better health than we have that they might be ready to carry on. To keep our soul alive we give it to another that they might do what we cannot.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2010/06/1-kings-191-15.html